ST. PATRICK'S DAY SWORDPLAY

EXCALIBUR (1981: Dir. John Boorman)

Filmmaker John Boorman is considered the godfather of contemporary Irish cinema, having famously fostered the talents of writer/director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game), and actor Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) among others. Although raised in London, Boorman has lived in Ireland's County Wicklow for over 40 years as well as shooting four features there. The first was the surreal dystopian fantasy ZARDOZ (1974), a project self-initiated when he was forced by United Artists to abandon his version of The Lord of the Rings starring The Beatles. At the time of its release ZARDOZ was derided as a bizarre folly after his unprecedented popular success with Deliverance (1972),  however, despite a healthy cult following, its lasting legacy may be that it marked Boorman's introductory use of the spectacular Irish countryside. Surrounded by rugged mountains and boggy grasslands, Wicklow was an ideal setting for his Freudian themes of an evolved civilisation, where the superego Eternals, are overthrown by their id-like warriors, the Exterminators. This ongoing conflict of the rational versus the natural would be further developed in the director's three subsequent films: Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Emerald Forest (1984), and Excalibur, his first truly Irish film in production and character. With Excalibur, Boorman was finally able to realize his long held ambition to film the King Arthur myth, and he took full advantage of the then burgeoning pool of acting talent in Ireland to tell the violent and carnal tale, by showcasing such future international stars as Liam Neeson, Gabriel Byrne and Ciaran Hinds. The story of the Round Table and the Grail quest had always held him in thrall, reflecting his belief in the profound magic of the elemental world, personified in the film by the whimsical Druid wizard Merlin (Nicol Williamson) and the sensuous witch Morgana (Helen Mirren). As envisioned by Boorman, the Arthurian age heralded the ebbing of mystical spirituality to make way for the dominance of Christainity, a belief system based more on reason, and therefore less connected with the primordial earth. This dichotomy could also be applied to the Irish character itself, often in strife between the emotive, i.e. earthy urges of conviviality, versus the "higher" mental aspirations of art and intellect. With ever-present organic greenery reflected upon the gleaming steel surfaces of sword blades and knight's armour, Boorman foregrounds his themes of man and nature, and is aided in these sensorial allusions by the painterly eye of cinematographer Alex Thomson (Legend), the baroque style of costume designer Bob Ringwood (Batman) and accompanied by the exhilarating Wagnerian music cues of Trevor Jones (The Dark Crystal). Made entirely in his adopted homeland of Ireland and cast with his own children in important roles, Excalibur more than any other work is John Boorman's testament film, communicating through the ancient medium of mythology, man's eternal struggle with himself and his environment. DVD & BLU-RAY

SONS OF GUNS Part Three

THE SEA WOLVES (1980: Dir. Andrew V. McLaglen)

What began in 1961 with The Guns of Navarone now comes full circle almost twenty years later as two of its stars are reunited for a geriatric WWII marine sabotage operation that given the respective ages of the actors, now seems more impossible than ever. Based on a true story, The Sea Wolves is the third in a zestful trilogy of films starring Roger Moore and directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, following the mercenary adventure The Wild Geese (1978) and the eccentric terrorist thriller North Sea Hijack a.k.a. ffolkes (1979). With a cast whose average age is over 60 years old, one can't expect the kind of rip-roaring action that normally comes with war movies. However, there are compensations to be had from stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Trevor Howard, in jovial collaboration with such veteran supporting players as Patrick Macnee (The Avengers), Kenneth Griffith (I'm All Right Jack) and John Standing (The Eagle Has Landed). For James Bond completists, Roger Moore even gets a chance to don a tuxedo for a deadly dinner date with stiletto-wielding femme fatale Barbara Kellerman. Other behind-the camera Bond alumni are on hand to lend their expertise as well, including editor John Glen (Moonraker), production designer Syd Cain (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) and main titles designer Maurice Binder (Thunderball). Old fashioned entertainment to say the least, but also a rousing episode of WWII history, enthusiastically directed and performed with craft and wit. DVD

SONS of GUNS Part Two

HORNETS' NEST (1970: Dir. Phil Karlson)

If Roger Corman's The Secret Invasion was the low-rent version of The Guns of Navarone, then Phil Karlson's Hornet's Nest was the juvenile take on the same material. Instead of hard-bitten men, this time the commandos are a group of Italian war orphans trained by American officer Rock Hudson to destroy a dam in Northern Italy, strategic to the occupying German army. They may be young boys, but their hand to mouth existence has made them into fairly ruthless adversaries, as mustachioed Rock and winsome Aryan doctor Sylva Koscina soon discover. Director Phil Karlson (Walking Tall, The Phenix City Story) was a specialist in violent realism, and he didn't pull any punches in dramatizing the sometimes grueling details of this coming-of-age-in-war drama, eliciting particularly emotive performances from the adult stars as well as the formative supporting cast. Save for some glaringly Seventies haircuts, all of the technical credits for this Italian-American co-production are above par, with special praise for Ennio Morricone's memorably mournful score, and the plentiful pyrotechnic effects by Paul (The Rat Patrol) Pollard. Less ambitious than its genre predecessors, Hornet's Nest is a modest but successful attempt to ring the changes of the impossible mission formula. DVD & BLU-RAY

SONS OF GUNS: Part One

THE SECRET INVASION (1964: Dir. Roger Corman)

In Hollywood there are often individual films that initiate a subsequent cycle of copycats. The Guns of Navarone (1961) was the first film of the Sixties to inaugurate a series of similar high concept action spectacles. Its forerunners in the previous decade such as The Cockleshell Heroes (1955) and Ice Cold In Alex (1958) were mildly popular "impossible mission movies" but didn't catch on with a wider public, content to enjoy the new home comforts of television. Producer Carl Foreman (The Bridge on the River Kwai)  recognized this, so when he purchased the adaptation rights to Navarone from its author Alistair MacLean, he set about creating a pure Boy's Own adventure by combining the box-office star power of Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, with colourful CinemaScope WWII action and intrigue on a scale never before attempted. It became the second biggest hit of the year, with the expected result of encouraging others to follow suit, the first being Roger Corman's The Secret Invasion, a low budget independent production from the notoriously frugal filmmaker. By detailing the mission of a commando group made up of criminals and psychopaths sent behind enemy lines, Corman envisioned the prototype for such future hits as The Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Devil's Brigade (1968). Sort of a " Dirty Half-dozen", and written by regular Corman collaborator R. Wright Campbell under the more evocative title of The Dubious Patriots, it featured a parsimoniously chosen cast of inexpensive yet familiar faces including former matinee idol Stewart Granger, middle-aged Mickey Rooney, Italian Neo-Realist star Raf Vallone, TV pretty boy Edd "Kookie" Byrnes, and Rat Pack alumnus Henry Silva. Following the exotic Nazi occupied country locations established by Navarone's Greek setting, Corman chose the charming Yugoslavian port city of Dubrovnik as his locale, making sure to maximize production value with stunning widescreen panoramas that serve to offset the story's potent violence and tragic pessimism. As an avowed liberal leaning exploitation filmmaker, Corman's films are always representative of his personal and political values. The Secret Invasion, made during early American troop build-ups in Vietnam, was his profitable yet unsparing anti-war statement about sacrifice and rebellion in a time of dangerous cold war brinkmanship.In my opinion, it's his most mature and underrated film. DVD & BLU-RAY

TEN TO WISH FOR Part Five

9.

FIVE DAYS ONE SUMMER (1982: Dir. Fred Zinnemann)

At one time, every new film released by director Fred Zinnemann (High Noon, A Man For All Seasons) was considered a cultural event. This excitement was strangely absent for Five Days One Summer, Zinnemann's valedictory film, starring Sean Connery during his career doldrums , opposite two young unknowns, American Betsy Brantley and future French heartthrob Lambert Wilson. Perhaps it was the mountain climbing milieu, which has never attracted large audiences, or it could have been the film's very uncomfortable love triangle, featuring a 51 year-old Connery in a seemingly incestuous relationship with a women half his age. Regrettably, its reputation remains unfairly maligned to this day, thus disregarding a courageously vulnerable performance by the once and future Bond. Nevertheless, it was admittedly a personal project for Zinnemann, conjuring up the serene majesty and thrilling danger of his boyhood treks through the Austrian Alps. Being a Warner Bros. film it will likely become available in their MOD Archives series, but in the meantime I'm keeping my VHS copy in a safe place.

                                                                    10.

                                          THE KEEP (1986: Dir. Michael Mann)

Michael Mann (Last of the Mohicans, Heat) is now anointed an auteur filmmaker, but if one chooses to accept The Keep in the company of his other works, there emerges an odd schizophrenia. For almost his entire career Mann has chosen stories drawn from history or the headlines to create ultra-stylish entertainments. The Keep is a fantasy/horror film with none of the gritty realism of his usual subjects, instead it embraces a supernatural religious mysticism that would be laughed off the screen by any of his own cinematic protagonists. That might be why, after its commercial failure, Mann retreated back into the familiar territory of the crime genre. It is possible the film's reputation might have been salvaged with a different theatrical cut made from the original three hour director's version, but despite its vague and confusing plot, I defend the boldness of Mann's vision, a view not shared by the novel's author F. Paul Wilson. The fact that it introduced Ian McKellen to an international audience should alone secure its place in cinema history, if not also for the film's memorably foreboding atmospherics, heightened by an operatic score from German electronic band Tangerine Dream. Six years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet one of its stars Alberta Watson shortly before its then-promised debut on DVD, and while I found her most appreciative of my praise for her performance and the film itself, I could sense her disappointment with the finished product. I guess Paramount shared her reservations, cancelling its release without explanation, and leaving me with the evermore unlikely chance of adding it to my collection.